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Today is the day!!!!

Oh my gosh Im so so excited. Could this day go any slower?!?!?!?!
Only a few more hours before we set off to VA!!! Thanks so much to everyone for your love and support and I will def post pics asap when I get home. I just cant wait for our first hug when I see her!

And I was also wondering for those of you with multiple pet homes did you ever get nervous right before getting a new pet about disturbing the delicate balance with your other pets? I noticed that right before we get a new pet, though Im excited, at times I get very anxious and nervous that my other pets will get upset and we will lose their sweet personalities due to the change. I have 3 kitties right now at home. Griffin and Hunter are brothers that we adopted together when they were 6 weeks old so they have never known a life without each other. Last year we adopted our third kitty Dexter. I was so nervous right before he came that Griffin and Hunter would hate us forever. The first 2 days was rough with lots of chaos but after that it was fine. I dont know if thats due to Dexter's overwhelming easy going and sweet nature or what though as he made himself at home right away despite the other two hissing at times at him. He never raised a paw and continued to rub up on then and play and I dunno maybe he just wore them down? Either way Hunter softened up and started to snuggle with him soon after. Griffin took some more time as he is the alpha cat but he stopped hissing and would just avoid Dexter if he didnt want to be around him. Now they are fine and even this morning they were curled up on the couch together asleep. I worry a little about upsetting the cats even though Im almost 99% positive that Hunter, once he stops being afraid will be fine, and Dexter will most likely be fine off the bat. Griffin I fear will be harder to adjust but the other thing I think is that he did adjust to Dexter and thats another cat on his turf and a dog is a little different. My husband says I always worry myself to death and that the animals will be fine Itll take them a little to adjust and then they will be fine. Any reassurance would be appreciated!

Yay.....the day is here!! I was so concerned about how Jake would react to Shelby. I worried myself over nothing. We had a bit of an adjustment period and then we were fine. When we brought our 2nd kitty home it completely freaked out SweetPea. About a week later I heard a funny noise and looked up at the kitty perch. KT was trying to nurse off of Sweetpea...and SweetPea was letting her!!

I just homed a Cavalier with someone who has a kitty. It's been a few weeks now and she says they are actually touching noses now. Hurray!!

I was scared when we added Howie to our dog-only household. I will admit that he hid behind the refridgerator for 48 hours (he was 8 weeks when we got him and as a rescue he was TEENY) but once he realized that Izzy was just trying to lick him not eat him, everyone has been best buds ever since.

Jasmine, you and I are going through the exact same feelings. How funny.

I'm completely nervous about bringing Sadie into my home tonight. We have an almost three year old cat named Tucker who has ruled the house since we brought him in when he was around 8 weeks old. He's had the house to himself and has trained the both of us well! I'm nervous he is going to get incredibly jealous and because of that destructive. He's has the two of us to himself for a long time and now someone is going to try and take that away being all cute and tiny.

On the other hand...

I think that if you give your kittens and your puppy the same amount of love and attention, gradually introduce them to one another, then over time they won't know what it was like before their sibling was living with them. It's a delicate balance, but you can definitely do it.

Don't be nervous and again have a safe, safe, safe, safe trip! Give Ellie lots of hugs and kisses from us!

No worries, kitties are resilient and most likely will bond closer with one another because of their combined disdain for Ellie My kitties have adapted so well because of all of the new critters coming into our house they usually completely ignore them and just hope they will go away eventually

I'm excited that the day if finally here.
my cat fluffy was 13 when i got zack. Several months before, my daughter had brought belle over and spent a night or two, and belle tentatively approached fluffy but when fluffy showed a lack of approval, belle just went a different way and got involved in somethnig else. Since then, Belle has been here many times and never approaches Fluffy, unless fluffy is sitting with me and belle gets in my lap, then belle has tried to be friendly with fluffy, touching noses, but fluffy stiffens a bit and belle doesn't pursue it. When Lisa got their kitten aurora, belle loved her and vice versa, they have played, slept together, etc. and keep each other company when the people aren't home.

right at first, Zack left Fluffy alone when Fluffy didn't reciprocate friendliness. But soon he became increasingly exuberant with Fluffy, and she didn't appreciate it. He would charge her and run into her, like he would with a puppy, trying to get her to play, but she was not amused. She was still pretty good about it in the sense tht she didn't try to attack him, scratch or bite, but would walk away, but if he persisted, once in a while she'd hiss and charge him and he would run away, semi-worried. I was always with them when they were together. I separated them when i wasn't home. I tried over and over to redirect Zack with "nhaaah," he would stop charging and bonking fluffy, but then later, he'd do it again. Almost everything else i redirected him from, such as picking my shoe in his mouth, he didn't do again, but wiith fluffy, it was compulsive, he wanted a playmate so bad, and she was so not into it. It was the most frustrating thing for me. Fluffy was being harrassed and didn't like it. finally i got so exasperated, instead of just using my voice ('nhaan'), i got up and got over him and put my mouth on his muzzle, like i was biting him, though i didn't bite down. i read about doing that in a puppy training book when lesser measures fail. Still i was surprised when he stopped doing it after that. He acted like he still wanted to but didn't act on the impulse. That went on for a long time, but then he started getting more bold, falling into his old ways, but he was more maturer by then, he had had a lot of dogs to play with by then and i think he could tell this was not an animal with dog potential, and Fluffy was quite assertive about giving him signals that he was going to be in trouble if he didnt watch it. He acted cautious with her. If she was laying near one of his toys, i'd hear him barking and growling and i'd look and i could see that to him, that meant she had the toy and he couldn't get it, even though she didnt' really have the toy, it was just near her. But he wasn't going to approach and try to get it because he thought she's guard it. Sometimes when he would walk past her, or try to play with her, she would chase him, it would make me laugh, she would chase on her stiff arthritic legs and he would scamper away with his tail down. So eventually this worked itself out, he doesn't bother her at all now, though he still likes her. They will lay near each other on the floor, or with me on my chair. Fluffy would rather not but she puts up with it because she likes the chair and likes to lay with me.

Having said all that about the problem i had of Zack harrassing Fluffy, i will say Fluffy handled it much better than i would've thought she would. she is a cat that doesn't like other cats and they don't like her. There have been some unfortunate incidents when we've had visitors. But Fluffy remained calm and as indifferent as she could be to Zack. And, she has been happier than she's ever been since he's been here, she seems to follow his role model as an affectionate animal, she's become more affectionate, less uptight. She really seems happier to me, in her way. Zack has been good for her.

Hi.. I have two cats one is 18 and the other is 12. When I broght Scout home she went to "meet and greet" the 18 year old. He really doesn't like other animals. He tolerates my Newf and he's known her for ten years. Everytime she gets too close to him she hisses at her and hits her, of course she thinks he's playing. Anyway Scout went up to have a look see, and he hit her and hissed at her as if to say "Welcome, Im In Charge Here". She backed up and just looked at him. Now he tolerates her also. The 12 year old is the gentle, loving, docile cat. He loves the Newf and she him. He would play with Scout, but she's a little rough for him. Basically they all get along with each other by ignoring each other. They all think they are the only animal in the house!!! Works out perfect for me.

This is my first post and was wondering the same thing as you as we are getting a new puppy on March 21. My first Cavalier! I'm so excited. But I am a little concerned about my sweet Brittany spaniel Behr who is 13 years old.

I was going to wait because I didn't want to disrupt his golden years, but I found a pup I just couldn't pass up. Behr was always great with other dogs, but I have noticed in his retirement he can get cranky with younger excitable dogs. This pup is a good choice because she is a little older and is subservient to the other older dogs she's been raised with so far, including the breeder's very excitable Springers.